DIY Sunscreen: Ultra-Potent, All-Natural Protection From The Sun!

Guest author Vanessa just wrote up a fantastic post on how to make a DIY Sunscreen. Enjoy!

Although we’re coming to the end of Summer, if you’re like me you’ve already started organizing your getaway to an all-inclusive somewhere in the Caribbean! So, even though the Sun may start to lose its power here in the Northern hemisphere, it’s definitely going nowhere in those highly travelled beach destinations.

Plus if you consider the fact that all of us are most likely going to be a ghostly pale white by the time we get to the destination, we better start thinking about how we’re going to protect ourselves from the harmful UV rays of the Sun!

That’s why I’m going to show you guys(especially those nature nuts!) how you can easily formulate your own chemical-free, all-natural DIY sunscreen from the comfort of your own home.

Firstly, let’s talk about why using a chemical-free alternative might be a smarter choice.

“Oxybenzone” And “Retinyl Palmitate”: They Just Sound Nasty Don’t They??

Yes they certainly do! The Environmental Group released their 2012 Sunscreen Guide that showed only 25% of the 800 tested products were effective at protecting you against the Sun’s rays without using harmful chemicals like oxybenzone and retinyl palmitate.

Although the FDA has approved both of these chemicals for use, there is a lot of new evidence that suggests there could be a link between them and cancer, due to their effect on hormone levels in the body.

I don’t know about you, but when I hear the word “Cancer” in the same sentence as anything, I immediately start running! Especially when you consider there are usually safer, natural alternatives to most harmful elements used in cosmetics these days.

Let me show you one!

My Favorite DIY Sunscreen Recipe And Tutorial

Before I get started, if this is your first time making your own sunscreen I would always recommend testing it out at home to make sure it’s fully effective before using it anywhere that the Sun is at its most extreme temperature.

Check out the EWG’s Sunscreen Guide to see which products are safe to use – http://breakingnews.ewg.org/2012sunscreen/

Okay here’s what you’ll need:

3 tablespoons unrefined sesame oil

1 tablespoon unrefined jojoba oil

2 tablespoons aloe vera gel

1 tablespoon unrefined avocado oil

1 tablespoon almond oil

2 tablespoon cocoa butter

2 tablespoons rose water

1 tablespoon shea butter

1 teaspoon bee’s wax

1 teaspoon lecithin (sunflower or egg-based is best)

1/2 teaspoon borax

20 drops carrot seed essential oil

3 to 5 drops coconut fragrance oil (just for a nice scent)

Some of these you should be able to grab from your local supermarket, but others you may have to get from a natural health store.

Don’t be too dissuaded by the price of many of these ingredients as I know it will seem like a lot. Just remember that once you buy all the ingredients, you will end up saving a ton of money in the long haul as you’ll be stocked up for ages!

Let’s Get Cooking!

I’m going to break everything down into a 10-step process to make things a little easier to follow. If you get stuck along the way, drop me a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Step 1: Grab yourself a medium sized pot and a 1 litre pyrex measuring container. Fill the pot half way up with water and place the container inside. Now put the pot on the stove at around a medium heat. Essentially the water in the pot will be doing the cooking.

Step 2: Melt the beeswax and cocoa butter, stirring all the while.

Step 3: Add in the jojoba, sesame and avocado oil, keep mixing!!

Step 4: Lecithin comes next. Once it has been mixed in, you can take the pyrex container off the heat and leave it to the side for now.

Step 5: Add in the shea butter and stir it around until it has fully melted into the mix.

Step 6: Grab yourself another small pot and mix in the aloe vera gel, the borax and the rose water, heating the mixture very slowly(low heat), stirring all the while until the borax has dissolved. Remove the mixture from the heat.

Step 7: Grab yourself a large bowl and fill it with ice. Now place the pyrex container filled with the first mixture into the bowl.

Step 8: Slowly pour the oil mixture you just made into the pyrex container, mixing vigorously all the while so that the blend starts to appear soft and creamy. For best results, use an electric mixer.

Step 9: Add in the carrot and coconut fragrance oil.

Step 10:  Pour the mixture into a jar before placing into your refrigerator. It should only take around 20 minutes to harden up to a level that can easily be rubbed into your skin.

There you have it, your very own all-natural, chemical-free, powerful alternative to store bought sunscreen, which you can quite easily repeat whenever you want.

Plus the best thing of all is that it smells amazing and it’s awesome for your skin!

As I mentioned before, if you have any questions you would like to ask me about this DIY sunscreen recipe, please drop a comment and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Now get out there and enjoy the rest of Summer!
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